Published: Saturday, January 18, 2014 at 10:21 p.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, January 18, 2014 at 10:21 p.m.

The neat, modest homes of Cannon's Campground and Bellview Acres conceal tales of frustration and heartbreak.

As Lisa Nielsen drives through the community she grew up in, she points to the homes of old friends and their families and recites their tales of sickness and death.

Carcinoma, leukemia, kidney tumors — dozens of homes have a story, and very few have happy endings.

"Every time I came to visit my mom and dad, it was, 'Oh guess who's sick, guess who has cancer, guess who's dying,' " Nielsen said.

After decades of suspecting the nearby Hoechst Celanese polyester manufacturing site and its various occupants of spewing toxic chemicals into the environment, the community filed a class action lawsuit in federal district court last week.

The lawsuit alleges known carcinogens used at the plant have leached into ground and surface water that flows through the communities, resulting in dozens of cancer cases. The suit seeks an injunction of all pollution-causing activities on the site as well as an order to identify and treat existing contamination and to prevent any further migration beneath private property. The plaintiffs also seek a health monitoring program for community members to be administered by the court and paid for by the defendants. They are seeking reimbursement for lost property values and civil penalties.

In an emailed statement, Celanese spokesman Travis Jacobsen said there is no connection between contaminated groundwater at the site and the groundwater in the communities because the areas are separated by streams acting as discharge boundaries.

"Simply put, the environmental conditions at the Spartanburg plant site have not caused adverse health effects or a loss of property values in the nearby residences," Jacobsen wrote.

S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency studied cancer data after residents suggested a pollution link, but in a 2011 report said a cancer cluster did not exist.

Nielsen contests the methodology of the study because it examined the entire ZIP code the plant is located in and not the specific area near the plant where chemicals could have migrated.

Other defendants contacted regarding the lawsuit declined to comment or could not immediately be reached. No response documents have been filed.

The primary plaintiff is Jay Easler, but the suit was filed on behalf of all residents living in a two-mile radius of the site at the intersection of Interstate 85 and the Pacolet River.

Easler owns property abutting a stream known to locals as "polluted creek." Nielsen said as a child she remembers playing near the creek, and "there would be foam up to our knees, and it was a different color every day."

Easler and others involved in the suit declined to discuss the situation because of the new litigation. Nielsen, however, no longer lives in the community, and despite being an outspoken activist for the residents, is not a party in the lawsuit.

At a community meeting in 2011, a Celanese spokesman said Hoechst Celanese was never cited for pollution and always adhered to existing environmental controls. DHEC's website states many current regulations were not in place when the plant began operations in 1966. Soil and groundwater contaminants were discovered in 1990 and mitigation efforts began in 1996. A series of wells were installed along the border of the property to pump groundwater to the surface for treatment. Several years later, when evidence of contamination remained, solutions were pumped into the ground in an attempt to dissolve or disperse the chemicals.

"As CNA Holdings is already performing an extensive environmental investigation and clean-up effort under (the S.C. Department of Health and Environment Control's) guidance, there is ample opportunity for public involvement and no need for the plaintiffs to seek judicial intervention here," Jacobsen wrote.

Despite mitigation efforts, DHEC documents cited in the lawsuit reveal rising toxicity in the contaminated soil and groundwater beneath the site and an expanding plume of contaminants reaching off the site. In 2011, the first-ever DHEC testing of private wells confirmed contaminants found at the site were also in the drinking water supply.

Though many residents no longer use well water and have switched to the city water, there is no telling how long or in what amount those chemicals were there in decades past, Nielsen said. The transfer to city water was also expensive for residents, and some are still using well water. The chemicals were found only in trace amounts in the wells, but Nielsen said many people could have been exposed over prolonged periods of time.

"I think because there has been such a stink made about this, they monitor it a little more closely, but my answer to that is too little, too late," Nielsen said.

An environmental assessment of the waterways around the site found sediments containing chemical concentrations higher than the lethal dosages to kill several kinds of aquatic life, according to the suit.

When she sat down to call community members and tell them about the lawsuit, Nielsen said she sadly crossed three names off her list – each of them already had succumbed to cancer. Another resident battling the disease burst into tears at the news.

"They've waited so long for this," Nielsen said.

Despite the suspicions, community meetings and inquiries to DHEC, Nielsen said she feels like this is the first time progress is being made toward holding someone accountable.

"A lot of times, you don't know how to deal with a giant, like Hoechst, when the giant lives among you," she said.

Nielsen said she and other residents are grateful to the Harpootlian and Louthian law firms, both based in Columbia, for their diligence in representing the community.

Bert Louthian declined to discuss the case in detail but said he and others working on the case "look forward to seeking justice for our clients."

There is a community meeting regarding the lawsuit at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Spartanburg Marriott.

<p>The neat, modest homes of Cannon's Campground and Bellview Acres conceal tales of frustration and heartbreak.</p><p>As Lisa Nielsen drives through the community she grew up in, she points to the homes of old friends and their families and recites their tales of sickness and death.</p><p>Carcinoma, leukemia, kidney tumors — dozens of homes have a story, and very few have happy endings.</p><p>"Every time I came to visit my mom and dad, it was, 'Oh guess who's sick, guess who has cancer, guess who's dying,' " Nielsen said. </p><p>After decades of suspecting the nearby Hoechst Celanese polyester manufacturing site and its various occupants of spewing toxic chemicals into the environment, the community filed a class action lawsuit in federal district court last week. </p><p>The lawsuit alleges known carcinogens used at the plant have leached into ground and surface water that flows through the communities, resulting in dozens of cancer cases. The suit seeks an injunction of all pollution-causing activities on the site as well as an order to identify and treat existing contamination and to prevent any further migration beneath private property. The plaintiffs also seek a health monitoring program for community members to be administered by the court and paid for by the defendants. They are seeking reimbursement for lost property values and civil penalties. </p><p>In an emailed statement, Celanese spokesman Travis Jacobsen said there is no connection between contaminated groundwater at the site and the groundwater in the communities because the areas are separated by streams acting as discharge boundaries.</p><p>"Simply put, the environmental conditions at the Spartanburg plant site have not caused adverse health effects or a loss of property values in the nearby residences," Jacobsen wrote.</p><p>S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency studied cancer data after residents suggested a pollution link, but in a 2011 report said a cancer cluster did not exist. </p><p>Nielsen contests the methodology of the study because it examined the entire ZIP code the plant is located in and not the specific area near the plant where chemicals could have migrated.</p><p>Other defendants contacted regarding the lawsuit declined to comment or could not immediately be reached. No response documents have been filed.</p><p>The primary plaintiff is Jay Easler, but the suit was filed on behalf of all residents living in a two-mile radius of the site at the intersection of Interstate 85 and the Pacolet River. </p><p>Easler owns property abutting a stream known to locals as "polluted creek." Nielsen said as a child she remembers playing near the creek, and "there would be foam up to our knees, and it was a different color every day." </p><p>Easler and others involved in the suit declined to discuss the situation because of the new litigation. Nielsen, however, no longer lives in the community, and despite being an outspoken activist for the residents, is not a party in the lawsuit. </p><p>At a community meeting in 2011, a Celanese spokesman said Hoechst Celanese was never cited for pollution and always adhered to existing environmental controls. DHEC's website states many current regulations were not in place when the plant began operations in 1966. Soil and groundwater contaminants were discovered in 1990 and mitigation efforts began in 1996. A series of wells were installed along the border of the property to pump groundwater to the surface for treatment. Several years later, when evidence of contamination remained, solutions were pumped into the ground in an attempt to dissolve or disperse the chemicals.</p><p>"As CNA Holdings is already performing an extensive environmental investigation and clean-up effort under (the S.C. Department of Health and Environment Control's) guidance, there is ample opportunity for public involvement and no need for the plaintiffs to seek judicial intervention here," Jacobsen wrote.</p><p>Despite mitigation efforts, DHEC documents cited in the lawsuit reveal rising toxicity in the contaminated soil and groundwater beneath the site and an expanding plume of contaminants reaching off the site. In 2011, the first-ever DHEC testing of private wells confirmed contaminants found at the site were also in the drinking water supply. </p><p>Though many residents no longer use well water and have switched to the city water, there is no telling how long or in what amount those chemicals were there in decades past, Nielsen said. The transfer to city water was also expensive for residents, and some are still using well water. The chemicals were found only in trace amounts in the wells, but Nielsen said many people could have been exposed over prolonged periods of time.</p><p>"I think because there has been such a stink made about this, they monitor it a little more closely, but my answer to that is too little, too late," Nielsen said.</p><p>An environmental assessment of the waterways around the site found sediments containing chemical concentrations higher than the lethal dosages to kill several kinds of aquatic life, according to the suit. </p><p>When she sat down to call community members and tell them about the lawsuit, Nielsen said she sadly crossed three names off her list – each of them already had succumbed to cancer. Another resident battling the disease burst into tears at the news. </p><p>"They've waited so long for this," Nielsen said.</p><p>Despite the suspicions, community meetings and inquiries to DHEC, Nielsen said she feels like this is the first time progress is being made toward holding someone accountable.</p><p>"A lot of times, you don't know how to deal with a giant, like Hoechst, when the giant lives among you," she said.</p><p>Nielsen said she and other residents are grateful to the Harpootlian and Louthian law firms, both based in Columbia, for their diligence in representing the community. </p><p>Bert Louthian declined to discuss the case in detail but said he and others working on the case "look forward to seeking justice for our clients."</p><p>There is a community meeting regarding the lawsuit at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Spartanburg Marriott.</p>